A History of Korea (11 page)

In addition to the Pak and S
ŏ
k clans, another clan in Saro named Kim (“gold” or “metal”) also came to the fore. With Kim Archi, who was said to have sprung from a golden box when a white chicken crowed in the grove of Kyerim, as its progenitor, the Kim family appears to have been a native clan that worshiped gold and was represented by the chicken totem. At first, these Pak, S
ŏ
k, and Kim clans shared the kingship on a rotational basis. This governmental system was unique in the Three Kingdoms but ultimately, from the mid-fourth century on, the Kim family monopolized the kingship.

Silla was less affected than other major Korean states by Chinese culture or outside conquest because of its geographical isolation. Several centuries passed before Silla, initially weak and backward compared to Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche, adopted a centralized government system. It was in the second half of the fourth century that Silla was then able to occupy most of the 12 Chinhan states.

By the time of King Naemul (356–402), Saro (S
ŏ
rab
ŏ
l) had grown into a confederated kingdom and controlled the region east of the Naktong River in present-day North Ky
ŏ
ngsang province. Naemul adopted a title befitting his
new position as the ruler of a confederated kingdom. Instead of
isag
ŭ
m
, the term used by his predecessors, he took the title
maripkan
(“ridge,” “elevation,” implying “great chief”). From the time of King Naemul, the kingship no longer alternated among the three clans of Pak, S
ŏ
k, and Kim but instead was monopolized on a hereditary basis by the Kim family. Since the reign of King Nulchi (417–458) the father-to-son pattern of succession to the throne was established. In the latter half of the fifth century, as a step toward the centralization of governmental authority, Saro’s original six clan communities were reorganized into 6 administrative districts (
pu
) of the capital. As part of the efforts to establish a centralized kingdom, King Soji (458–500) built post stations throughout the nation in 487.

In the latter half of the fourth century, Silla had to seek help from Kogury
ŏ
to defend itself from a much stronger Paekche, which won both Kaya and the Wae Japanese over to its side. This Silla effort was successful in 400, when Kogury
ŏ
forces crushed an allied force of Paekche, Kaya, and Japan. With this military assistance, however, Silla was reduced to being Kogury
ŏ
’s protectorate. Threatened by powerful Kogury
ŏ
, Silla increasingly strengthened its ties of friendship with Paekche. In 493 it forged a marriage alliance with King Tongs
ŏ
ng of Paekche.

Silla entered its flourishing era in the early sixth century. As it matured as a centralized kingdom, Chinese influence increased and became an important factor in Silla’s growing power. In 503, in the reign of King Chij
ŭ
ng (500–514), the nation’s name was declared to be “Silla” and the Chinese term “wang” replaced the native title of “maripkan.” Originally Silla’s name was not spelled with Chinese characters, and the state was simply called “S
ŏ
rab
ŏ
l” or “Saro,” meaning the “eastern land.” Then, in 503, Chinese characters that, when pronounced, sounded like “Saro” were chosen for the state’s name, and it became “Silla.”
⁴
By this time the Silla people had already been accustomed to Chinese writing, so the use of Chinese terminology reflected Silla’s preparedness to actively accept China’s advanced political institutions.

As part of consolidating royal authority, the Pak family emerged as the “queen clan.” Important advances in agricultural technology, such as the introduction of ox-plowing and extensive irrigation works, increased agricultural production. In 512, King Chij
ŭ
ng gave Isabu an order to conquer the “state” of Usan at Ull
ŭ
ng-do in the East Sea.

In the reign of King P
ŏ
ph
ŭ
ng (514–540), Silla grew into a centralized aristocratic kingdom. In 520 the yuly
ŏ
ng was promulgated, and proper attire for the officialdom was instituted. The provisions of the yuly
ŏ
ng may have included such basic regulations as delineating the 17-grade office-rank structure and installing the
kolp’um,
or bone rank, system. Already in 517 the king established the Py
ŏ
ng-bu, or Ministry of the Military, through which he could assume military command of the kingdom. In 536 Silla adopted an independent era name,
K
ŏ
nw
ŏ
n,
or Initiated Beginning, to make a show of the firm establishment of royal authority within the country and its equal standing with China in the international community. After a man named Yich’adon martyred himself, Buddhism was officially adopted in 527 and would serve as an ideology to bring national unity and solidarity to the newly centralized kingdom. Taking the offensive in his relations with neighboring countries, King P
ŏ
ph
ŭ
ng, in 532, conquered the once powerful K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya in the present-day Kimhae region in South Ky
ŏ
ngsang province, making it a stepping stone for advancing into the entire lower Naktong River basin. This was surprising, considering that Silla had originally been weaker than Kaya, not to mention Kogury
ŏ
and Paekche.

Silla flourished the most during the reign of King Chinh
ŭ
ng (540–576), who promoted the
hwarang,
or flowering youth, bands as a national warrior organization. He pushed ahead most vigorously with Silla’s territorial expansion at the expense of Kogury
ŏ
, Paekche, and Kaya. In 551, in concert with King S
ŏ
ng of Paekche, Silla attacked the Kogury
ŏ
domain in the Han River basin. The upper reaches of the Han River fell to Silla, and Paekche occupied the lower Han River region, which was far more important strategically and economically than the zone taken by Silla. In 553 Silla drove Paekche out of the lower reaches of the river and took possession of the entire Han River basin. Incensed by this betrayal, King S
ŏ
ng launched a retaliatory attack on Silla in 554 but was killed in battle at Kwansan-s
ŏ
ng. Silla’s occupation of the Han River basin, a fertile and populous region, brought the kingdom enormous human and material resources. It also gave Silla an outlet to the Yellow Sea, opening up trade and diplomatic access to China. Now Silla’s advancement both culturally and technologically would come directly from China. In 562 King Chinh
ŭ
ng annexed Tae, or Great, Kaya in the present-day Kory
ŏ
ng area in North Ky
ŏ
ngsang province, thus acquiring all of the Naktong River basin. Silla also extended its territory up to the northeastern coast of the Korean peninsula into the old Okch
ŏ
and Tongye regions. In the year 561 a stone monument was erected and given the name Ch
ŏ
ks
ŏ
ng-bi (monument) at Tanyang in North Ch’ungch’
ŏ
ng province; four other stone monuments were also built: at Pukhan-san in Seoul (555), at Ch’angny
ŏ
ng in South Ky
ŏ
ngsang province (561), and at Maun-ny
ŏ
ng (pass) (568) and Hwangch’o-ry
ŏ
ng (pass) (568), both in South Hamgy
ŏ
ng province. They bore witness to the king’s brilliant achievements in Silla’s territorial expansion. As Silla rapidly grew in strength, the Three Kingdoms competed more fiercely for dominance over the Korean peninsula.

MAP 2.3.
Silla in Flourishing Times (sixth century)

By the first century
AD
12 “states” of the Py
ŏ
nhan federation in the lower reaches of the Naktong River had developed into the Kaya confederation that included six “kingdoms”—K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya at Kimhae, Tae Kaya at Kory
ŏ
ng, Ara Kaya at Haman, So Kaya at Kos
ŏ
ng, Kory
ŏ
ng Kaya at Hamch’ang, and S
ŏ
ngsan Kaya at S
ŏ
ngju.
⁵
Among the 12 Py
ŏ
nhan states, Kuya honored Suro as its first king and developed into the kingdom of K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya, or Pon (“original”) Kaya. Initially K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya led the Kaya confederation, but in the late fifth century, Tae Kaya replaced K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya as leader of the Kaya states.

According to legend, in ad, 42 nine village headmen, called
kan,
climbed up Kuji-bong (hill) at Kimhae and sang the “turtle song,” upon which they found six golden eggs that had descended from heaven. The eggs soon hatched, and Suro, the first to emerge, ascended the throne in K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya; the five others who sprang from the eggs became rulers of the five other Kaya states. This myth suggests that K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya, which produced large quantities of high-quality iron, engaged in rice farming, and was actively involved in maritime activities, became the leader of the Kaya confederation.

Because of geographical proximity, large-scale migration took place from Kaya (later called Imna) to the Japanese islands. Until the fourth century the Kaya people established settlements on the Japanese islands of northern Kyushu and the southern tip of Honshu. Gradually the Kaya domain extended from the southeastern part of the Korean peninsula to the southwestern region of the Japanese islands. Contemporary Chinese historians called these people
Wo
(
Wae
in Korean,
Wa
in Japanese). After the seventh and eighth centuries the word “Wa” was used to indicate only the Japanese. Before the seventh century, it also referred to the Kaya people who lived in the southern part of the Japanese islands. These Kaya people in this region of Japan vigorously engaged in maritime activities with Kaya kingdoms on the Korean peninsula.

Kaya’s development was impeded by Paekche and Silla, and the struggle between these two rival kingdoms rendered it impossible for Kaya to fully advance politically and socially in order to become a centralized kingdom. Since the second half of the fourth century the Paekche king K
ŭ
nch’ogo undertook a large-scale campaign of conquest, and consequently Kaya submitted to Paekche. Since the descendants of the Paekche general Mok Nak
ŭ
nja, who subjugated Kaya, went over to Japan,
Nihon shogi
recorded, erroneously, that Japan conquered Kaya and created the Mimana Nihon-fu, or Japanese Office at Imna, in that region. After it reduced Kaya into submission, Paekche established a center in Kaya for trading with Japan, which the Japanese later distorted as a mechanism for Japan’s colonial administration of Kaya.

Beginning in the sixth century Silla actively expanded its territory at the expense of Kaya and other neighboring states. In 532, taking advantage of Paekche’s preoccupation with its transfer of capital from Ungjin to Sabi, King P
ŏ
ph
ŭ
ng annexed K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya at Kimhae. In the late fifth century Tae Kaya took K
ŭ
mgwan Kaya’s place to lead the Kaya confederation. Taking advantage of the growing momentum to defeat King S
ŏ
ng of Paekche at Kwansan-s
ŏ
ng in 554, the Silla king Chinh
ŭ
ng destroyed Tae Kaya, which had allied with Paekche, in 562, thus gaining control of the entire Kaya region. The other four petty Kaya states had already suffered the same fate. The history of Kaya, which had achieved a high level of civilization, finally came to an end.

About the time that Silla occupied the Han River basin in the mid-sixth century, the international situation in Northeast Asia had developed to the kingdom’s advantage. After some 300 years of internal division, China was once again reunited under the Sui dynasty (581–618) in 589. The reunification of China by the Sui dynasty, and subsequently by the Tang, had a profound impact on Korea’s strategic position.

Whenever China, in previous times, became united and was able to exert great power, the Korean kingdoms felt its weight. The Han empire was the best example of this. But after the Chinese Han collapsed in 220, China was divided into several parts, dynasties rose and fell rapidly over three centuries, and
China was so disunited and overrun by “barbarians” that it exercised little direct military influence on Korea. Until the late sixth century Kogury
ŏ
enjoyed relative peace with the Chinese, but then the Korean kingdom, which bordered China at the time, grew uneasy about Sui’s successful unification of China. To counterbalance that pressure, Kogury
ŏ
sought to forge friendly ties with the Tujue people (Turks), then a newly rising power in the steppe region of north-central Asia. As in previous periods of Chinese strength, however, the Sui empire launched military campaigns to subjugate the Tujue people. Determined to crush the Tujue threat, Sui planned to outflank them by conquering Kogury
ŏ
.